Tony Leung’s Latest Award: ‘Actor Extraordinaire’

‘I think of myself as neither a great actor nor a bad one,’ Tony Leung Chiu-wai said at a press conference in Hong Kong on Thursday.

For actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the world of movies is simpler than the real world.

“In a movie, you just follow a director’s guidance about what your character should be like, and the background is all set up,” Mr. Leung said on Thursday in Hong Kong, where he was awarded this year’s “actor extraordinaire” prize by CineAsia, a film-industry group. “But reality is much more complicated than that.”

Mr. Leung has applied that view in a career that has spanned more than three decades. The star of “The Grandmaster” and the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy said he feels lucky to have been a part of Hong Kong’s “Golden Age” of cinema.

“I think of myself as neither a great actor nor a bad one,” he said. “Making movies is about teamwork, and I am very lucky to be supported by colleagues, the audience and the media.”

Mr. Leung has appeared in more than 60 films and worked with many of Asia’s most prominent directors, including Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, John Woo and Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Most notable is Mr. Leung’s longtime collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, beginning in 1990 with “Days of Being Wild.” The two went on to make six additional films, including “Chungking Express” (1994), “Happy Together” (1997) and “In the Mood for Love” (2000), for which he won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.

“It is a great honor to be able to single out Tony Leung for his excellence in performance, most notably in ‘The Grandmaster,’ ” CineAsia Co-Managing Director Robert H. Sunshine said in a statement prior to Thursday’s award ceremony. “His combination of continued critical acclaim and success at the box office makes him one of the most extraordinary actors of his time.”

CineAsia brings together movie-industry professionals from across Asia and elsewhere, with a focus on exhibition and distribution. Last year, the group honored Korean actor Lee Byung-hun as its star of the year.